


Arcade Thunder

by Scourgefan12



Series: Modern DocJan Cinematic Universe [5]
Category: Hellsing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:53:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29243877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scourgefan12/pseuds/Scourgefan12
Summary: Avondale really wants his first official date with Jan to be perfect.
Relationships: The Doctor (Hellsing)/Jan Valentine
Series: Modern DocJan Cinematic Universe [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023328
Kudos: 3





	Arcade Thunder

It was strange. Avondale and Jan had been together for a while, at least half a year now, and they'd never been on a proper date. They'd spent time together, in both casual and romantic contexts, but had never really done anything that could be qualified as a date. The closest they'd gotten was Avondale spending the day at Jan's place, but that didn't count. Not as far as Avondale was concerned, anyway.

He felt like this was something that should change. It would be really weird if they made it all the way to their first anniversary without having went on a single date. And sure, a first date on their anniversary would likely be very romantic, but it just didn't seem right. 

Avondale was sure Jan didn't care nearly as much about this as he did. Jan always seemed happy when they got to be in each others presence at all, he didn't need anything extra. Not that Avondale didn't share that sentiment, he cherished every second he got to spend with Jan, he just thought it would be nice to do something special every once and a while. Make their time together more memorable. Plus, he wanted the chance to treat Jan. His boyfriend deserved good things.

There was a small problem with this, however. And that was the fact that he really didn't know what they were supposed to do, where they were supposed to go, or anything of that sort. He needed to choose something that could be counted as a real date, but also something that Jan would actually enjoy. This left him with less options than he liked.

If it were up to him, he'd do something traditional. Dinner at a fancy restaurant, going to see a movie, a walk through the park at night so they could stargaze together. Things of that nature. Hell, he'd even buy Jan some flowers once it was over, something nice to end things off with.

He doubted any of those ideas would go over too well, unfortunately. Jan was absolutely not the romantic type. Whenever Avondale tried to do things that could be construed as romantic, such as the occasional use of pet names, Jan would voice his distaste in a very dramatic manner. He'd laugh, make fun of Avondale for it, and sometimes would even throw in some fake gagging. It wasn't the most pleasant experience.

Of course, Jan never told Avondale not to do these things. Technically, he never even said that he didn't like the romantic gestures, as much as he'd tease Avondale for them. Avondale often suspected that he had no real problem with them, and this was just his way of distracting from how flustered he was. Still, getting relentlessly mocked wasn't exactly his idea of a perfect first date, so he'd keep these ideas on the backburner for now.

That left him at a bit of a loss. What other options were there? There was always the option of asking Jan what he'd like to do, but that was kind of something he was hoping to avoid. He was sure that Jan would have plenty of good ideas, but he'd prefer if his plans were a surprise. He wasn't about to spring anything on Jan last minute, but he just thought it would be better if Jan didn't know what they were going to be doing in advance.

He could also ask Jan's brother, he and Luke got along well enough. But that might be kind of weird, they didn't talk all that often and he wasn't sure how much Luke would appreciate being contacted out of the blue over something like this.

And nobody else he could speak to on this subject knew Jan well enough to be able to offer good suggestions. So, no asking others for advice. He had to figure this out on his own.

Easier said than done, he struggled for a while. He felt a little ridiculous for stressing over this as much as he was, but he just wanted to make sure Jan was happy with whatever he chose. If Jan didn't have a good time, then there was very little point to asking him out in the first place.

He was stumped for a good bit, and was about ready to just give up and settle for something more in line with his own tastes and hope for the best. That was, until it hit him.

He was at work, going through his day same as usual. It was pretty uneventful, all things considered, but one thing happened that solved his recent problems. 

One of his patients was a child who had brought in their handheld gaming console to help pass the time. And that got Avondale thinking, Jan liked video games, didn't he?

He did, yes. He'd mentioned his interest in them on a few occasions, as well as referenced some specific ones he liked. Such references usually went over Avondale's head, he knew next to nothing about video games, all his knowledge coming from listening to his son talk about them.

Jan also lamented his inability to actually play any of the games he liked. Not due to a lack of skill, but rather a lack of money. Growing up, his family never had enough extra funds to spend on things like that, and even now his brother preferred to be careful with what money they had. Due to this, most of his actual experience with games was watching videos of other people playing them.

Avondale figured it was time for that to change. He could work with this, he had the perfect plan in mind.

He found that he was very excited for this. As soon as he was able, he texted Jan, asking if he wanted to go out. Jan seemed surprised by this, asking if he meant like... _out._ As in, on a date?

Avondale responded that, yes, that's what he meant. That's usually what it means when your significant other asks to go out together.

Jan called him a smartass, and asked what they were gonna be doing.

Avondale just replied that Jan would see, and said that he'd pick Jan up after he got off work. (Jan kept pestering him for details after this. He didn't give up anything that would help Jan actually guess, but he did let Jan know that it wasn't anything overly formal, so there was no need for him to worry too much about appearances.)

The rest of his work day felt like it lasted forever. He was antsy, he just wanted to be able to leave and get this whole thing started.

When he was able to leave, he didn't waste any time. He returned home for some spare cash, and to freshen up a bit. Not that the second thing was especially necessary, he'd already showered and everything that morning, but a little extra effort wouldn't hurt.

Then, it was time. He went to pick Jan up and get this show on the road.

The whole way there, Jan kept throwing out guesses as to where they were going. They were mostly ridiculous, ranging from "some lame shit like taking me on a picnic or something" to "are we just gonna go back to your place and fuck and call it a date? that'd be pretty cool"

Avondale didn't dignify most of these with responses. Really, what was he supposed to say? There were only so many ways he could say that this wasn't going to end in them having sex. (Probably... He guessed he was willing to keep his options open. That certainly wasn't his main end goal for this, though.)

Once they actually arrived at their destination, Jan shut right up. 

The destination in question? The arcade, of course. It was a really nice place. Big, lots of variety. Avondale had actually taken Schrodinger here for his birthday quite a few times, so he knew from experience how great this place was.

Jan was silent for... a while. It was almost kind of concerning. He seemed to be in shock, staring agape at what he'd been presented with. Just as Avondale was about to ask if he was alright, a wide grin split across his face. "Holy shit..." He let out a breathless chuckle, as if what he was seeing had knocked the wind right out of him. "You really know how to seduce a guy, gramps."

Avondale was torn between being glad that Jan liked what he'd chosen and telling Jan to not call him that. Seriously, he wasn't _that_ old! He was barely even middle aged! Just because Jan barely qualified as an adult didn't give him the right to treat Avondale like an old man.

Before he could choose between the two, Jan grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him into the building.

Once they were inside, Jan paused again to take in the sights. He somehow seemed more amazed now that he was seeing everything up close, likely almost overwhelmed by just how much there was for him to do. He was practically vibrating where he stood, Avondale wasn't sure he'd ever seen Jan so excited before.

Once Jan snapped out of his trance, he didn't waste any time. He ran over to the first game that caught his eye. Then, when he decided Avondale wasn't following fast enough, he grabbed him by the hand and ushered him along.

Jan whistled, looking it up and down. "Damn, check this bad boy out."

It appeared to be some sort of fighting game. Avondale couldn't tell more than that basic detail, but he still nodded and agreed that it was rather impressive.

Jan turned to him with an expectant look on his face. "You _have_ to fight me, man."

"I... do?" Avondale balked a bit at that idea.

"Yeah! Come on, it'll be so fuckin' cool!" 

Avondale wasn't sure how much he agreed with that. He may have decided to come to an arcade, but he didn't account for the fact that he might actually have to _play_ some of the games. It wasn't that he didn't think it would be fun, it was just that he seriously didn't know what he was doing. He didn't want to embarrass himself.

Of course, his hesitation meant nothing to Jan. If anything it made him even more adamant. He kept pestering Avondale with a mix of begging and insults. Calling him a pussy, saying that it was just a game, (Which was definitely not something he'd be saying if he lost.) promising that it would be fun, and even going as far as to say please, which really let Avondale know just how badly he wanted this.

He didn't want to disappoint Jan, so he relented. He did about as well as he expected. It took him a full round to figure out the controls, and even after that he wasn't great. Jan laughed maniacally, mocking Avondale and rubbing the loss in his face. Once he was done celebrating, he bugged Avondale about playing again. He'd apparently enjoyed himself a lot despite, or maybe because of, the easy victory.

Avondale indulged him. Why not? It was pretty fun, even though Jan kept making fun of him for how bad he was.

Much of the rest of the day went like that. Jan would drag him around to different cabinets and games and either beg Avondale to play with him or tell him to watch. There were a few that Avondale wasn't terrible at, due to playing them with Schrodinger in the past. He almost managed to give Jan an actual competition a few times. Jan seemed to like this, he'd bug Avondale about playing again even more when there was the illusion of the possibility of him losing.

At some point though, they separated to do their own things. Jan was the one who instigated this, saying that he was about to start taking this shit really seriously, and he needed peace and quiet to get into what he called "the gamer zone"

Avondale could've pointed out that there were far too many other people here for him to experience anything close to peace or quiet, but he went along with this. If Jan wanted to be left alone for a bit, that was fine.

Unfortunately, a little bit turned into quite a while. It felt like hours. Long enough for Avondale to come to the conclusion that nothing here was nearly as fun if you were by yourself. He was also kind of worried, what could be taking Jan this long? Was he just so absorbed in what he was doing that he lost track of time?

Or, was he lost? That didn't seem extremely likely, this place was big but it wasn't _that_ big. Still, it was a possibility to keep in mind.

Avondale decided he was going to look for Jan. If he still wanted to be alone then tough shit. It was getting late, the sun was probably going to start setting soon. This place might not even be open for that much longer, they needed to be leaving soon.

His search didn't last very long. They ended up stumbling across each other after only a few minutes.

" _There_ you are. What took you so long?" He spoke in the same tone he used when scolding his son, which he expected Jan to give him a hard time for, but that didn't matter. He felt he was justified in being a little annoyed.

Jan, surprisingly, didn't seem bothered by that at all. He gave a nervous chuckle. "Sorry babe, I didn't mean to. I was just busy, y'know?"

Busy. Right. Well, as long as Jan wasn't being difficult, then it hardly seemed fair to stay upset. He sighed, relaxing considerably. "It's fine, let's just get going."

Jan offered no argument, just agreed and followed Avondale to the exit.

He asked if Jan enjoyed himself, which only got him laughed at in response.

"You fuckin' kidding me? This was like the best day of my life."

That was certainly good to hear. "In that case, maybe we could come again sometime."

Jan looked positively overjoyed at that suggestion. "For real? You mean it?"

Of course he meant it. It would be cruel of him to get Jan's hopes up like that if he weren't being serious.

He was about to explain this when he noticed something that had escaped his attention before.

Jan's arms were crossed, and he seemed to be clutching something to his chest. Avondale gave him a curious look before inquiring. "What's that?"

Jan's eyes widened, like he hadn't expected Avondale to notice. "It's.. uh..." He looked around, hesitating, suddenly feeling very bashful. "Well, it's.. For you, actually." He eventually managed to mumble, releasing it from the confines of his arms and presenting it to Avondale.

The item in question was a little stuffed cat. Golden tabby, with black beads for its eyes.

Avondale took it and just kind of... stared at it for a while, turning it around in his grasp a few times so he got as good of a look as he could. It really was pretty small, he could hold it in one hand if he wanted. Soft too, like newly bought stuffed animals tended to be.

Jan seemed to be perturbed by the lack of a reaction, fidgeting where he stood. "I mean.. If you don't want it I could keep it. Or, maybe you could give it to your kid? He likes this sorta shit, right?"

Schrodinger certainly would like this guy. Unfortunately, he wasn't going to get his hands on it. Avondale was keeping this for himself, nobody else was going to take it from him. He knew the perfect spot for it on his nightstand, and he was going to start thinking of names as soon as possible.

He carefully held it in both of his hands as he went to actually reply. "I love him. Thank you, Jan."

"Him?" Jan sounded like he wanted to laugh, but managed to hold himself back. "Good, you better. Little shit was a pain in the ass to get, took forever."

Ah, so this was what took Jan so long? He was just standing by one of the claw machines, struggling for hours so he could win a prize to give to Avondale. That really didn't sound like something Jan would normally do, he was _not_ a patient man by any means. Avondale imagined that in any other scenario, Jan would give up within minutes, followed by him bitching about how the game was rigged and hitting the machine a few times. It showed just how determined he had been. It was really sweet, actually. He didn't want to say it was the nicest thing Jan had ever done for him, but it was certainly up there.

He leaned in to give Jan a little kiss, repeating his previous sentence. Though, this time 'i love him' was replaced with 'i love you'.

Jan was absolutely stunned at first, just staring at Avondale in awe. Then he really did laugh, but it was obviously just to release his nervous energy rather than out of any malicious intent. "Yeah, I uh... You too." He looked at the ground as he said it, unable to keep his eyes on Avondale.

Avondale wasn't offended at Jan not even really saying it back. In fact, he felt his heart swell. Jan could be absurdly cute sometimes, when he allowed himself to be. He decided then and there that if it was what his boyfriend wanted then he was definitely going home with Jan tonight. Maybe not even for sex, he just didn't want to have to separate.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm pretty sure arcades are barely even a thing anymore nowadays, but I do not CARE! It's the perfect location for a date between the 2 of em  
> Honestly, I've never been to an actual arcade. My only points of reference for what they're like are what you see in the Yakuza series & also Chuck E Cheese


End file.
